From 1942 to 1951, Jordan scored an astonishing 57 R&B chart hits (all on Decca), beginning with the humorous blues "I'm Gonna Leave You on the Outskirts of Town" and finishing with "Weak Minded Blues." In between, he drew up what amounted to an easily followed blueprint for the development of R&B (and for that matter, rock & roll -- the accessibly swinging shuffles of Bill Haley & the Comets were directly descended from Jordan; Haley often pointed to his Decca labelmate as profoundly influencing his approach).
link: ON THIS DAY IN JAZZ AGE MUSIC!: JULY 8TH...
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A great performance--much better choreography than our current stars and starlets, who seem to take their cues about "dancing" from cheerleading moves combined with jazzercise classes. Love them glasses and the shoes and, well, the whole outfit. Taking a page from the Charlie Chaplin handbook. It does seem, however, that black people couldn't get into the audience there...
Ray Charles was a huge Jordan fan. Not only did Ray record versions of "Outskirts of Town," "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Early in the Mornin'", there's a distinct Jordan influence in his alto sax playing -- in fact, I'd venture that it was because of Jordan that Ray took up alto to begin with.
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